Palawan Birding Part 2: Iwahig Penal Colony

The Iwahig penal colony and is a place where convicted criminals are rehabilitated and within it prisoners of different levels of security roam reasonably freely and many have considered this their home, choosing not to leave when they have served their sentences….it is a nice place to bird…

The male copper throated sunbird was easily found next to the guardhouse entering the penal colony

The absolutely delightful and delightfully named Lovely Sunbird was found much further in… Picture courtesy of Ces Espiritu

At this scenic spot by the river, we settled down trying to look for the blue eared kingfisher…

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher made a spectacular appearance

Male Palawan Olive backed sunbird

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female Palawan olive backed sunbird preening

And then another endemic showed up, the White Vented Shama. Picture courtesy of Ces Espiritu

female olive backed sunbird picking at a spider’s web…this lady entertained us for quite a bit…taking the thread to build her nest

The Blue-eared Palawan Kingfisher finally appeared and perched for awhile…picture courtesy of Ces Espiritu

Philippine Pied Fantail

there were also some interesting crabs…

and flowers….

and butterflies

This Spotted Throat Woodpecker (according to our guide)was seen from way off…hidden in the foliage..When I checked in Kennedy’s Guide to the Birds of the Philippines, there was no mention of this type of woodpecker though,,,

and just before we left the colony, we were thrilled to see this beautiful Palawan Blue Paradise Flycatcher…the male

One of the birds we were trying very hard to find was the endemic Blue Headed Racquet Tail Parrot…and it finally appeared! I wonder why the head is green and there are hardly any racquet tails except for that vestigial one in the picture!

Scaly breasted munia

All in all, the Iwahig penal colony yielded the most endemics and interesting birds of our days here….well worth a visit and it’s only 30 min from puerta princesa town…